Obly, obly-onker
My best conker
Obly, obly O,
My best go.
I love Red Horsechestnut trees. I remember seeing them on the capital grounds when I was a boy. They have the most bright red blooms in the spring which you will get to see pretty soon. The nuts or "conkers" are spectacular. They are smooth and shiny and look like brown little agate or marble stones polished in a tumbling brook. Thus children in Great Britain would gather the shiny "conkers" and play a kind of marbles on a string and recite the little chant above before giving their best shot.
Anyway last fall I gathered some lovely Red Horsechestnut conkers from a tree I planted years ago and layered them in soil over the winter. I carefully dug them up a few weeks ago and to my delight they were all spliting open sending new little shoots. I gave Nate, Annelisa's friend a couple of conkers to take to his dad in Colorado last Thanksgiving. We will see how good an arborist he is or if he should stick to back surgery. This is one of the Red Horsechestnut trees starting to sprout. I have about a dozen or so. I will carefully raise them this year and plant them out next year or perhaps this fall. Can you imagine swinging in a grove of blooming Red Horsechestnuts? Wow!
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